Both Laura and Tenur jogged towards the expedition, Tenur with the still hibernating Denka in hand while Laura clutching her stomach with one arm. Although the unnerving feeling was intensifying the more Laura jogged towards the sound, she suppressed her natural desire to run away and moved on with only one hand to balance. They jogged at a pace which was not at all similar to how normys do: run a little, walk a few steps before jogging and repeating the entire process.

After a few trees, they could see light. Torch light, to be exact. The heat warded off the cool night air around, and it worked their ways into the bodies of those living, including the both of them. As they approached a tree, a soldier appeared from behind, machete in hand. This gave frights to Laura and Tenur, who were not expecting a soldier to suddenly appear. The feeling was mutual with the soldier as well.

"Freeze!" After regaining his composure, the soldier shouted out. His voice echoed through the forest around them, instantly alerting his mates of his findings.

"Whoa whoa, calm down," Tenur returned the favour. So far, he could only expect the soldier to see shadows instead of their normal selves, making it harder to discern whether they were hostiles or not, albeit the shadow casted by Laura probably dissuaded the idea of being exactly 'benign'.

"Kid, what're you doing here?" The soldier approached Tenur. Obviously, he hadn't notice Laura yet, otherwise he'd be freaking out already, if not outright faint. Maybe he thinks she's a tree? Tenur mused the idea, but decided to clear it first.

"Light," the soldier muttered before a soft glow was emitted from his left hand. The eerie yellow glow made it seems like a horror scene.

The soldier swept his hand over to Tenur. Tenur caught a glint of recognition from the soldier's eyes. The recognition quickly turned to fear when his eyes swept over to Laura. So he finally saw... Tenur thought. The soldier threw the light onto Laura which ended up identifying parts of her body such as her biceps and forearms. His left hand was shaking when the light finally illuminated her face.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"'Sup," Laura said casually with her free hand waving. She tried acting as normal as she could, just like how when she meet another troll, but something told her the fear in the soldier was the more dominant factor in his next response.

"T-t-troll!" The soldier back pedalled as he shouted. Heavy footsteps could be heard approaching now.

"Calm down! She's a troll, yeah, but my troll," Tenur went over and stretched out a hand to help him up, yet the soldier merely sat there quivering.

"Wait, 'your' troll?" Laura asked, one brow raised.

"Yeah, lest we want his mates to murder the crap out of you, it's better if you just admit you're my pet," Tenur replied with a shrug. Secretly within some part he didn't even know existed, he felt happy for having a troll as a pet.

"Y-your t-troll?" The soldier sounded sceptical, before steeling himself and picking himself up and stating again, "I've never heard of a person taming a troll..."

"Who said anything 'bout taming? It's better if you just say he hired me as a 'pet'," Laura sounded irritated. She was annoyed at being treated like a property.

"Well, if anything, can you lead us back to your village?" Tenur asked hopefully. There was probably maps that can be accessed through the village's townhall.

"With... your troll too?" The soldier sounded unwilling. The three of them could see their surroundings beginning to light up by the torches and hear the incoming sound of armored men.

"Yeah. As a simple introduction, my name's Tenur and she's Laura," Tenur pointed at Laura, "and the grimoire in my hand is Denka," he lifted Denka so all of them could see.

"I'm Proin from Division Three of the Halve family," Proin gave Tenur a handshake and continued, "we've been searching for you, Mr..."

"Just Tenur is enough, no need for the formalities, Proin," Tenur explained. The expedition arrived with dozens of armed men panting.

"Is that him, Proin?" The one in the front asked.

"Yes, this is him," Proin replied.

The commander gave a sigh of relief before noticing Laura, "Troll! Prepare for battle!" His group drew their swords, "Proin! Get over here and get Tenur with you, a troll's dangerous!"

"Wait, no. The troll's a pet, his pet," Proin pointed at Tenur while explaining it to the commander who suddenly dropped his guard with a "wha...?"